Winning is fun. Losing isn't. It's the same for all of us, yet, some start struggling when they face better players or lose by being unlucky. Maybe they don't have what it takes to become a great poker player - maybe it's too nerve-wrecking for them to lose once in a while, and poker is not the right game for them. Or maybe there's something wrong with the mindset they have when it comes to poker.
The thing all of us should understand, is how poker is a game of probabilities. Even if you had probabilities on your side all the time, you're still going to lose. I'm not telling you to expect the unexpected, no, but expect what's coming to you. If you go all-in when you lead 80-20, once out of five times you're going to lose. If you don't, then you actually get lucky. Players in general should learn to see losing as a natural part of poker - a natural part of winning poker.
You learn from losing, too. Try to see something positive in it. Yes, you lost money, but if you learned something out of it, that's great. More than most players do. When you pay attention to the game, losing will always teach you something. It's not the most pleasant way to learn, but it's a different way - maybe even more effective in some ways. Avoiding losses is a great start for a poker career, even though you need to learn to win too. However, if you formerly lost $200 on average in a certain situation, and since you learned something from losing, you'll lose $180 on average in that situation from now on. You just learned to *lose less* - yes, it's still losing, but you're a better poker player now.
Like the famous quote says: The person interested in success has to learn to view failure as a healthy, inevitable part of the process of getting to the top.
This is so true. But, the funny thing is, sometimes players can't deal with their losses even though they didn't "really lose". See, poker players in general should learn to think about the long run. Strategy articles, players aroud the world say you should think about the long run, but because it's been said basically everywhere, they're now "just words" to most poker players. In fact, if you lose money by getting unlucky, you just won money for future. You can read more about this: Poker Player's Winnings In the Long Run.
We have to be mentally strong, able to handle all kinds of up & downswings. That's a very challenging part of poker. As long as you should be winning according to the probablities, everything's fine. It'll take some time for you to get even, though, but don't worry about that. Just concentrate on having big enough bankroll and on the better side of poker probabilities.
Part 2: When Can You Admit Losing?
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